Kara Sevda

by Now What Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland/New York City

Review by Amina Omari

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In a train station, Celia (Tierney Nolan) reads a novel to keep the world at bay, until she's approached by Rhys (Masa Gibson). He's sly and infuriating, guarded and funny; he wants her attention for reasons that are not as clear as they seem. Soon enough, they develop a bickering rapport -- but beneath the veneer of normalcy, something is very wrong. 

Kara Sevda, by Lisa VillaMil, is an ambitious two-hander that explores love and hope in the darkest of settings. The apocalypse has already happened and the world has been plunged into chaos. In a Paris train station, these two people are waiting to see if they'll be picked out of thousands for a seat on the last train out. But life goes on, at least for now, and a little conversation passes the time.

Over the course of fifty minutes, Celia and Rhys talk themselves into and out of intimacy and let us in on the seriousness of their predicament. Their conversation is punctuated by flashback monologues (marked by an eerie electrical whine) that give the audience a view of the past loves -- filial, brotherly, and romantic -- that fill them with regret and force them to keep reaching for hope.

The stakes couldn't be higher -- life and death, for them and everyone they know -- but their ability to control their fate is limited. Although at times they toy with the idea of survival, they never seem to fully believe they have a chance.  In this world, it is too late to hope for the best; instead, the characters hope only for what is within their reach. A seat on the train, a warm sweater, the comfort of kindness, a chance to make amends: these are the small desires that allow them to remain human in inhuman times. 

If there’s a flaw, it is in the ambiguous ending -- after the relentless ramping up of tension through the show, there is a sudden drop in energy in the final moments that doesn’t quite work -- but this is still an experience worth seeking out. The writing is vivid and evokes a terrifying, all-too-believable world; the acting is truthful and detailed; the direction is focused; and the sound design is both subtle and affecting. See it if you can.